First off, let me start off by saying that if you ever purchase a home through a real estate office make sure that you do not have a realtor that is a listing and a selling agent for the home. That was our first mistake because all she seen was big dollar signs and became as greedy as she could be from that point on. It all started back in November. We had seen this house on the market on the Internet and decided to come drive by it and see what it was all about. We had been looking for our dream home for close to a year and seen this one and thought it was interesting enough to look at it. We contacted Irene and asked to see the inside of it. She had set up a couple different appointments and every time we were scheduled to see it, she would call and cancel saying that the owner was unable to show it due to different circumstances with her schedule. We had pretty much decided that it was not meant to be and gave up on seeing it.in December Irene had contacted us and told us that the owner was vacating it and moving out because her husband was being relocated for work and that we would be able to finally get in and see it. I am not sure of the exact day but we had finally come out to view it. We walked in and Irene was already in the house. She had the fireplace lit and had the house toasty warm which made it extremely inviting. We walked around it and were both amazed at how it was almost exactly what we were looking for and Irene kept asking what we thought of it and told us that we should make an offer on it if we liked it since it was almost perfect for us. We made them an offer that was quite a stretch from what they were looking to get for it because we assumed that they would think we were out of our mind for offering such a low offer. I believe it was the very next day Irene had contacted us and stated they accepted the offer. Now that should have been a huge red flag for us but she told us they had taken the offer because they did not want to have the house sitting and on their books in the start of the new year. Okay we were naive and fell for that line. Now keep in mind, the house is less than 2 yrs old, over 3,000 sq ft in size, and has already had a previous owner. The previous owners never put a yard in on this house with 2 acres of land. The outside was a mess with weeds. We had met with Irene and told her that we would only purchase the house with stipulations. The house was very dirty inside and you can tell it was not properly taken care of. The carpets were filthy and smelled like animals and there was dirt, dead flies and cobwebs on all of the fixtures. The appliances were not cleaned either. I also knew about the Howard Hanna buy back warranty because I had previously purchased a home with that warranty on it. My husband at first was not keen on the idea of having that because he knew we would have to pay for it but I insisted on it and told him we would be insane not to because if anything were to go wrong within a year we could give it back to Howard Hanna and find another home. I had him convinced after that. Irene had told him that between the time of the purchase agreement and the closing we could take that out if we wanted to and would not be under any obligation to buy it and I told her we were indeed buying it. When we signed the first purchase agreement it was definitely check marked and in it and it also stated that the we wanted the home professionally cleaned inside and out. She stated that would not be a problem. We signed it and she stated that she would get it to GMAC which was the relocation company handling the property now. She contacted us the next day and said we would have to resign the papers because the utilities had some issue and they needed to be put into Howard Hanna or GMAC's name and it was standard procedure. We told her we were extremely busy with work and holiday stuff and she stated she would meet us at a supply house where we were going shopping at so that we would not be inconvenienced. We once again signed the papers. Now mind you this is the point where she snuck out the Howard Hanna buy back guarantee. We never noticed because we took her to be a very honest and sincere person. WOW, WE WERE DEAD WRONG!!! She is by far the most manipulative sneaky person ever. We had contacted her a few days later and asked to view the house again and she agreed. When we got to the house my husband was checking everything out from one side to another. He had got into the basement and had noticed water leaking in the back corner of the house. Second mistake. We should have ran as fast as possible from this. He pointed it out to Irene and she stated she would contact GMAC and ask them to have it repaired immediately. We trusted her to do just that. She contacted us the next morning and stated someone was going there and fixing it that day. We told her we wanted a home inspection done before we were going any further. We met with her again and sure enough the water was still in the basement. She stated she would contact the contractor and have him come back and my husband had told her he wanted to be there when he did. She had recommended a Home Inspection company and he came out later that week. When we met with her and the inspector she stated the contractor had already been there and fixed the problem and the inspector would verify it was resolved now. We were a bit upset to find that we were not able to see what he had done to resolve this issue. Now once again keep in mind the yard is nothing but mud. The weather was freezing cold out and we took her word that it was fixed. She stated the contractor would be out once the weather cleared up better to do a final grade on where he had dug up and waterproofed the wall. Since we have moved into the house we contacted that same contractor because once the weather cleared up and we were able to go to the back and see what he had done, we once again found a disaster. When he had fixed the leak he had used something hot on that back wall and melted our siding severely so it looks as bad as the rest of the issues. He swears that he never melted the siding and also that he told our realtor we were going to have many more problems because when he had done the work he found that the drain tiles were above the footers with very little gravel in them and that it would end leaking all the way around it. He also stated to her that she would have to disclose the issue to us and she told him that he was hired to repair that wall and that was his only job. He fixed that and that's all he was being paid for. She told him that she did not have to disclose anything more. I have since talked to him again since my last conversation with him and he then told me that she contacted him again and told him that if he goes against her in court she will deny that he ever told her anything. Now mind you, on the disclosure form it states that the previous owners had a water problem but the builder came out and did a final grade that cleared up the problem. The home inspection guy that she had come out and do our home inspection wrote in his report that their was slight dampness on the wall and once the yard was graded properly, it would fix our problem.
He totally convinced us of this. The day of the closing Irene had contacted us and told us that she would not be able to meet with us and give us the keys and that she would leave them in the garage. I told her that we preferred she would meet us there or my husband would be upset if she didn't. She agreed and did so. When we arrived my husband and I walked all over the house inside to see if the things were done that was supposed to be done in the contract. We found that they never bothered to clean the carpets like was stated, also the fixtures were never cleaned and the appliances were half cleaned. Her response to that was that the cleaning company wanted more money to clean the fixtures. She swore that the carpets were cleaned which there is no way they were. We were so disgusted with her at that point. I rented a steam cleaner the next day and it was filled with filth and animal hair. So that proved that lie. The same day she gave us the keys my husband had gone out to the mailbox and found a bill for our taxes already. Another lie. She told us the taxes were approximate. 1500.00 to 2500.00 for the year. She did not have an exact she stated because the taxes were never appraised on the house. We should not have fell for that one. He was upset and I turned to the both of them and said that's okay, if it gets any worse we will use our 100% money back guarantee. She looked at us both and said no you can't. You never bought that warranty. We were then furious. I asked her why it was never stated that it was removed. She said my husband had her remove it. He swore up and down that he never did. We told her that we wanted it and she said she needed to go back to her office and talk to her manager and tell them we wanted the buy back warranty and that it was supposed to be in there. They never bothered to call so I call her again and she said they declined it. They said we lost that option when we took it out of the contract. We screamed and yelled and told them we never did. We told her we were hiring an attorney and they told us to go ahead which we have. They once again have told our attorney the same thing. Now let me tell you people out there that our dealing with Howard Hanna. BUYER BEWARE!!! We have been in the house a few months now. Mind you the only thing this house supposedly needed by the realtor and previous owners comment was a yard and landscaping put in.in the first week after we moved in it rained, our garage started leaking severely. Also we painted the ceilings and wall in our 3 car garage. The next week the ceiling in the garage started coming down because it was leaking through the other side from some sort of roof defect. We could fill a bucket every time it rained. We had to repair that immediately so that we would not get black mold. Then the next week or so, we had found that our basement was leaking now on the other side. That's when I contacted the guy that the realtor hired to waterproof the back wall and he stated that she made sure we were not able to contact one another during the buying process. He then sat with us and repeated his entire conversation with her. We then knew for a fact she had taken us for the biggest ride of our life. This woman has one thing in mind. Its pure GREED! I don't know anyone could sleep at night knowing that she has sold a couple that wanted there dream house so bad and she sold them a pure money pit. We started to do our drainage this summer thinking it would fix our problem and thought well, we shall just fix it and make the best of it. Boy were we wrong. We still don't have a yard nor will we have enough money to even get one this year. Once our contractors started on the drainage they found that the first contractor that waterproofed that wall was absolutely correct. We have to dig up the entire outside of the house and repair all of the footer drains and basically start from scratch all over again. It is costing us more money that we ever dreamed of. Now also, I would like to add that our taxes ended to being double of what she said and she also told us that the builder had nothing on the docked for developing the land next to us or behind us. We also found that to be a huge lie. It has been on the docket the whole entire time and he is in the works of putting 11 homes beside and behind our property. I have left a few details out on this report because I am sure you have read enough but I just have one last thing to say to any home buyers out there. If you ever come across this woman make sure that you keep a very sharp eye on her and also if you are dealing with any other realtors remember very importantly; READ ALL CONTRACTS OVER & OVER BEFORE CLOSING A DEAL ON YOUR DREAM HOUSE!!
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